So, it’s been a couple days since the end of the competition, and I don’t have any posts here, so it certainly seems a good a time as any to change that.  I’ll take this time to describe the grand dreams we had working on Eden Island, as well as answer a few things people have written in their comments.  I’d also like to thank everyone for taking the time to review the game and give some good feedback.

First off, what didn’t make it in.  You got to see the pirates, but what you didn’t get to see was the extremely awesome sea monster which destroys the ship.  The art was done, the ship getting destroyed looked perfect–I just didn’t have time to add the sea monster.  Eventually the sea monster will eat your pirates (and probably monkeys, if the pirates haven’t killed them) if there are too many of them.

The concept of the game was not to be plot based at all–it’s not an evolution from sand to trees to monkeys to pirates to sea monkeys–it’s a combination of everything to create a balanced island.  If you have too many monkeys, you are going to attract pirates (clearly for their luxurious fur); if you have too many pirates, you’re going to attract a sea monster; if you have a sea monster, you’re going to have a destroyed island–back to square 1.  While it is a “god game,” you do not have direct control over anything, really; all you can do is influence what is happening.

There is also going to be a lot more interaction between elements in the coming versions.  For instance, you might notice now that if you have multiple waves of pirates, your monkeys will probably stop throwing coconuts at them.  That means they have run out of them, and they can’t get more.  So the monkey will either have to leave the tree, or a pirate will likely chop it down, since the monkey is no longer trying to kill him.

Rain currently grows your trees, and it will continue to do so.  However, the effect you see now is more for storms; in the later releases, you will start off with light rain, and it will work its way into a storm.  Storms will damage your trees, pirates, and other stuff.

Okay, now for some answers to the comments you have all graciously left us.

First and foremost, several people have stated that the competition must be done solo.  Well, if that were the case, why do the rules make no mention of it?  I started off under the full assumption that it was a solo competition, but when Germille offered his fantastic artistic skills, I closely checked the rules to see if I had to do everything myself.  And guess what?  There is no mention of it being a solo competition in the rules. So, I gladly accepted his services–and clearly the game was better off for that.

Another big point is that it’s not really a game.  Well, it’s not a game yet. Unfortunately I am quite the perfectionist, so I spent far too long getting cool effects in the game than I did developing actual gameplay.  At least I have a lot more planned to go in than what you see now.  Fortunately, I did in 36 hours what I haven’t done on some games in several years.  It was truly an experience.  It was my first Ludum Dare, but it will definitely not be my last.

Okay, now for some specific replies:

smn said it was like a zen garden.  I really like this comparison–it is truly meant to be a world you sculpt and of which you must take careful care.

It inspires jplur to learn flixel: quite a big honor, I believe.  I’m glad my game can inspire anyone to do anything–and learning to make a game in flixel is a noble cause and really quite easy.

increpare: at the moment, you can only have 4 or so plants on screen at a time.  This should mean that you always have monkeys on the ground, otherwise when the pirates come it’d be too easy to just kill them all.  Certainly this will change when there is more interaction between pirates and trees, pirates and monkeys, and monkeys and trees.

zez: about the trees’ bounding boxes: yes, they are quite terrible, and I have redone them significantly in my local copy.  I have also fixed the “drop a monkey on a tree and he starts climbing” bug, as well as the “climb up an invisible trunk” bug.  There are probably also a myriad of others I have fixed, and many more I haven’t noticed.  I definitely welcome all bug reports!

refrag: glad you like it!  I’m honored that it’s your favorite so far.  I think you’ll be really knocked out when the sea monster comes after your pirates, too!  Sorry to hear that you dinged me for not doing it solo, but I was very careful to follow the rules.

xeon06: you’re probably dropping them from too high, so they’re dying on impact.  There’ll be a ‘splat’ sound and graphic for that later…

So, I’m glad if you’ve enjoyed playing, and if you didn’t, I’ll be glad to remedy that!  Let me know what I can do to make it better.